Greenwich will receive the only permanent exhibit, a sculpture by local artist Gary Webb which can also be used as a playground climbing frame. The other artworks, by artists who have either lived or studied in east London, include inflatable sculptures by Anthea Hamilton and Nicholas Byrne which will fill the empty pool in the disused Poplar Baths, Tower Hamlets; billboards by Sarnath Banerjee inspired by his own sporting failures, situated throughout the boroughs; and specially sculpted doorknobs which record the touch of people who use them by Can Altay. Silver and spherical, the doorknobs will be situated on buildings around Waltham Forest including the town hall, some council housing and the YMCA.

Two further projects by another artist will be announced at a later date, once Frieze have overcome what curator Sarah McCrory described as "engineering issues and battling the laws of nature and physics."

Frieze were approached for the project by Create, whose aim is to connect artists with the communities of east London. The artworks are the first Frieze has commissioned away from the art fair, which attracts international collectors to Regent's Park every October. They have been financed by Arts Council England, who according to Frieze director Matthew Slotover put in around £100,000; and the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, who contributed around £350,000.

Slotover said that while the perception of Frieze is "big money, big glamour", the company's aim has always been "more low key, but with scale and ambition."

He added: "I think clarity and accessibility are really important, otherwise it's pretentious. This is broader than the fair, it's going to the general public and that's really exciting."

Slotover hopes that the project can provide a bridge between east London's 13,000 artists and the rest of the community in the boroughs, some of which are among the most deprived in the country.

"I think there are communities who don't feel that they're getting something out of the Olympics, so to try and give them something that they can engage with, that they're proud of and that they're excited by is a great thing to do. The projects we've found so far will be of the highest international quality but they're also approachable projects that you don't need a PhD in art history to engage with."

McCrory invited Webb to make a playground after being impressed by the "extreme colour and form" of his preview sculpture. "Creating projects for the Olympic period is quite difficult when you're putting something into someone's community and we wanted there to be a thoughtfulness and a generosity to the project," she said. "Whereas an art audience can go to Greenwich and look at it in situ, it is a sculpture that also has a permanent life and will hopefully be loved by the community that ends up getting it."

The sculptures will be launched on 25 June. Ruth Mackenzie, director of Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival, said the chosen artists "will delight east London residents and tourists from around the world."